During an appearance yesterday on Meet the Press, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said he thinks it’s time his party concedes defeat and moves past the marriage equality issue.

Walker’s remarks come on the heels of the release of new nationwide polling showing that 51 percent of Republicans under the age of 30 support marriage equality at the state level. As Mother Jonesreports, according to the polling, “the only major demographic that still opposes same-sex marriage is white, evangelical Christians.”

DAVID GREGORY: Are younger conservatives more apt to see marriage equality as something that is, you know, what they believe, that is basic rather than as a disqualifying issue?

WALKER: I think there’s no doubt about that. But I think that’s all the more reason, when I talk about things, I talk about the economic and fiscal crises in our state and in our country, that’s what people want to resonate about. They don’t want to get focused on those issues.

Walker also questioned why the government sanctions marriage in the first place, noting, “an alternative [would be] to say not have the government sanction it, period, and leave that up to the churches and the synagogues.”